California - Northern

[Lynn Manes]

Be careful with flax. I tried making my own gluten free chicken feed and put flax in it. Later, I was told that all chicken eggs are gf by a scientist at UC Davis. Since I've had no bad reactions to our eggs and we don't eat our chickens, I stopped trying to make my feed. But when I would do up treats, I'd throw a small amount of flax seed in with it. They started to get runny poo. I stopped using it and poo went back to normal. Not saying to not use flax at all but in very small amounts and not daily. Same thing also happened using black oil sunflower seeds.I just stopped giving them altogether, since it was more of a treat than anything else.I had no problem with chia seeds, and since I use them in and on many dishes we eat, I always have a big container around to share with the flock.

Gluten is a protein/peptide found in wheat.   A chicken by definition is gluten-free, as is any animal, as you figured out.   What can be gluten-free is the *diet* you feed the chicken.  I don't have any opinion on whether chickens benefit from being gluten free.   Many humans do.

Thanks for sharing that seeds were causing your chickens to get runs.   That might have been some kind of inflammation from those foods, but flax has the same effect on humans.   They usually tell you to not eat more than one tablespoon of flax per day as a human.


I am really curious how do you prepare that chia in advance?   Chia soaks up water rapidly and swells.   That can't be safe to feed dry?

I don't prepare it at all. I simply sprinkle it on salads in stews and soups,or whatever for us but in very small quantities. There's really no taste to it, but I'm hoping to derive healthy benefits from using it. Same with the chickens. I just sprinkle it on their treat food which is mostly fresh veggies sometimes mixed with fresh fruit pieces. We have 2 desert tortoises that I feed fresh veggies to daily. I share them with our chickens. What I've been doing to save time is chopping these veggies and putting them in daily one cup sandwich bags and freezing them. Then it's a faster way to get out there to give it to them rather than chopping up fresh every single morning. I make a combo of yellow squash, chayote squash, zucchini,brussels sprouts, collard greens & a little bit of mustard greens (only bc I think they are stinky and don't want my eggs tasting like they smell. Lol) The tortoises get 3/4c. of each and the chickens get the other 1/4c of each small sandwich bag. These veggies don't freeze hard as a rock, so I can pull the bags out and take the end of my kitchen shears and use to sort of pound them where they have frozen in clumps. Anyway, I then just take about 1/8 tsp of chia seeds and throw on top for the chickens. They love this combo, and eat it all. I live in Bakersfield. Summers are excruciatingly hot and long here. As an example, today it was 104°, still in late September.So giving these veggies frozen, they love. And although my tortoises may let some of their food sit for a while til it thaws, not the chickens. They'll chow down theirs, then head for the tortoises food, where I'm always shooing them away I do also give my tortoises that flat cactus sold in the grocery stores here, but I don't know what it might do to the chickens as it's slimy, like Aloe Vera is inside. I think it's called napolas cactus or something like that. I know many Hispanics eat it. I've never tried it bc I've no idea how to prepare it.Long answer, I know, for such a simple question, but hey that's me. Just call me Wordy Gertie

Oh, okay. Sorry, then I really can't help about fodder, as I've never grown or used it. I've done a little reading on trying to grow it, but I'm not a very good gardener

 

[westes]

I don't prepare it at all. I simply sprinkle it on salads in stews and soups,or whatever for us but in very small quantities. There's really no taste to it, but I'm hoping to derive healthy benefits from using it. Same with the chickens. I just sprinkle it on their treat food which is mostly fresh veggies sometimes mixed with fresh fruit pieces. We have 2 desert tortoises that I feed fresh veggies to daily. I share them with our chickens. What I've been doing to save time is chopping these veggies and putting them in daily one cup sandwich bags and freezing them. Then it's a faster way to get out there to give it to them rather than chopping up fresh every single morning. I make a combo of yellow squash, chayote squash, zucchini,brussels sprouts, collard greens & a little bit of mustard greens (only bc I think they are stinky and don't want my eggs tasting like they smell. Lol) The tortoises get 3/4c. of each and the chickens get the other 1/4c of each small sandwich bag. These veggies don't freeze hard as a rock, so I can pull the bags out and take the end of my kitchen shears and use to sort of pound them where they have frozen in clumps. Anyway, I then just take about 1/8 tsp of chia seeds and throw on top for the chickens. They love this combo, and eat it all. I live in Bakersfield. Summers are excruciatingly hot and long here. As an example, today it was 104°, still in late September.So giving these veggies frozen, they love. And although my tortoises may let some of their food sit for a while til it thaws, not the chickens. They'll chow down theirs, then head for the tortoises food, where I'm always shooing them away I do also give my tortoises that flat cactus sold in the grocery stores here, but I don't know what it might do to the chickens as it's slimy, like Aloe Vera is inside. I think it's called napolas cactus or something like that. I know many Hispanics eat it. I've never tried it bc I've no idea how to prepare it.Long answer, I know, for such a simple question, but hey that's me. Just call me Wordy Gertie

Those are some well fed chickens, and I love your use of ice to cool them down while feeding them.

What is their entire diet besides those veggies?

 

[caychris]

Sprouted wheat, as one example, has nearly half its fatty acids as omega-6 polyunsatures:
https://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/cereal-grains-and-pasta/5750/2

Im working on growing comfrey to supplement my birds.
Mine will pretty much eat anything green. Mine go crazy for red stuff too. Stawberries, Tomato, Red bell pepper, and red grapes.

They love watermelon like cantaloupe but prefer the seeds in both.

However Ive also found that the things my birds eat others wont touch.

If there is one thing Iv'e learned. All the best plans can go out the window if the birds won't cooperate. (And Murphy was an optimist)

A vegetable and insect diet while a lot more work is probably doable here in the bay area.

 

[h2oratt]

Im working on growing comfrey to supplement my birds.
Mine will pretty much eat anything green. Mine go crazy for red stuff too. Stawberries, Tomato, Red bell pepper, and red grapes.

They love watermelon like cantaloupe but prefer the seeds in both.

However Ive also found that the things my birds eat others wont touch. 

If there is one thing Iv'e learned.  All the best plans can go out the window if the birds won't cooperate. (And Murphy was an optimist)

A vegetable and insect diet while a lot more work is probably doable here in the bay area.  

What does comfrey do for the chickens?

 

[caychris]

What does comfrey do for the chickens?

Its just a very nutritious plant that can be grown as fodder it grows quick and also makes great compost material.

Lots of places use it as chop and drop mulch. Feeding animals is an additional benefit


http://www.coescomfrey.com/use.html



Quote:

Comfrey is 22% to 33% Protein Compared to Alfalfa at 12% to 19%

Comfrey has about 7 times the protein of soybeans and 8 times the carbohydrate, pound per pound. When protein yield is measured, acre for acre, Comfrey surpasses soybeans, producing 20 times as much as the infamous bean. Now we’re seeing more and more why the availability and use of Comfrey has been suppressed!
Comfrey provides a low-fiber, high-protein, high mineral feed — replacing more costly concentrates which contain soybeans and animal by-products for protein.
- See more at: http://www.coescomfrey.com/use.html#sthash.sYxICno7.dpuf

 

[BirdieBirdie]

Thanks! I'm hoping to be able to do this too. Couldn't find anyplace in the area that would butcher them for us. What the heck we're supposed to do with the roosters we can't have, if we can't butcher them, I don't know...

let's chat because we might be able to help. PM me

 

[Sylvester017]

You found the orps aggressive?

Yes, Orp have been especially so -- as Orp chicks were very much bullies around Silkie chicks of the same age and the Orp (from a private breeder) experience I was around was a nasty broody. The Orp did settle down once she finished brooding chicks but in comparison I found our Silkies much nicer broodies and mommas. I'm sure people have nice Orps but they are too heavy around our bantams and eventually tempted to keep harassing the Silkies - flock politics is normal but I won't tolerate heavy bullies. It's why we settled on a "no-breed-over-5-lbs" policy around our 2.5-lb Silkies. We've discovered pure Ameraucana and pure Breda two of the gentlest non-combative breeds around our littles so far.

 

[Sylvester017]

I want to get hands-on experience raising chickens before I even make a decision to do this in my backyard. I may actually have to sell a home and buy a new one to get the land to do this properly, so it is a huge decision.

I am going to research exactly as you describe above, but only *after* I get hands-on experience first. I don't want to make a major time and life commitment to something and then discover at the end I hate it.

My real first preference would be to find a chicken farmer who is willing to experiment and try to feed a grain-free diet. So far I have not had luck with that.

We started out with two Silkies and loved the little fluffies so much we started adding other breeds one at a time to have better laying hens. Found not all breeds are good to mix with bantams and finally after 5 years have the right mix of breeds where we don't have to worry about bullies. We can't have more than 5 hens/no roos so I envy your ability to look for property where you can experiment with more breeds than we can. We have only 4 hens and they have become more our pets than for utility. Chickens have a way of being quite a fascinating pet while giving you eggs to eat.

 

[h2oratt]

Yes, Orp have been especially so -- as Orp chicks were very much bullies around Silkie chicks of the same age and the Orp (from a private breeder) experience I was around was a nasty broody.  The Orp did settle down once she finished brooding chicks but in comparison I found our Silkies much nicer broodies and mommas.  I'm sure people have nice Orps but they are too heavy around our bantams and eventually tempted to keep harassing the Silkies - flock politics is normal but I won't tolerate heavy bullies.  It's why we settled on a "no-breed-over-5-lbs" policy around our 2.5-lb Silkies.  We've discovered pure Ameraucana and pure Breda two of the gentlest non-combative breeds around our littles so far.

I really don't think you can compare an orp to a silkie.

The size is so different. But I also don't look at my chickens as pets. They are fun and have personalities but they are not my pets.

 

[All Ball]

Is there anyone in the San Francisco Bay Area teaching a class on how to raise chickens?

Biofuels Oasis in Berkeley offers classes, but not sure if there are any coming up soon...